Monthly Archives: September 2011

Here is a list of terms for close reading Shakespeare’s texts, with examples — mostly from As You Like It. I developed it with my RA Sarah Hertz, specifically for Exercise 2 in English 205 (Fall 2011). But it may come in handy for anyone doing close readings of early modern drama.

The course has three (3) assignments that you will write at home, to develop and demonstrate your skills more independently. Each will be discussed in lectures and tutorials, and each of their due dates is listed in the course schedule (A1, A2, A3). See my Submission Policy for the penalties for late submissions. If you miss any assignment, for any reason, there is no make-up exercise.

The course includes five (5) tutorial exercises to apply and practice the critical reading and writing skills you learn about in particular weeks. You will complete these exercises in five different tutorials, as noted in the course schedule (E1, E2, E3, E4, E5). In lectures, I will discuss each of these skills in detail. Your TA and I will teach you how to complete each exercise successfully. Only E4 and E5 are open-book. You must complete and submit each exercise in the time allowed. If you miss any exercise, for any reason, there is no make-up exercise.

The final exam will be two hours long; it will be scheduled by the Registrar. Students must be available for examinations up to the last day of the examination period.

The exam will test your ability to apply the techniques of writing and criticism that we have developed throughout the course to As You Like It, Hamlet, Cymbeline and the critical readings {C} we have done.

Using twitter in English 205 will help me listen to your reactions to the course material, to make my teaching more responsive to your questions. My goal is to encourage you each to ask questions about Shakespeare, questions that will identify “trending topics” (as twitter calls them) in the class at large. I want to help each of you move toward higher-level questions by the end of the course: questions that show not merely how much you know, but how well you think. With time, are you moving from understanding to analyzing, and from analyzing to evaluating? Do you read between the lines, make connections between passages, convey more than one layer of information?